Before the creation of the gold ETF (GLD) it was much more difficult for people to trade gold cheaply and easily. GLD is up around 160% since it first came out five years ago as you can see from the monthly chart below. Subscribers and I are currently long gold but I’ll admit my timing in and out of GLD has been less than brilliant. People who blindly bought and held the yellow metal five years ago have surely outperformed the clever boys who try to time this market.